Several top officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will visit Iowa next month to learn about how the regulations passed in Washington D.C. are having an affect on Midwestern growers and livestock producers.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley extended the invitation and says he’s encouraged the E.P.A. leaders will be making the trip. Grassley says, "I appreciate the Obama administration’s willingness to visit and see first-hand the impact their agency has on farmers."
The visit September 3rd will include an informational meeting, a visit to a central Iowa farm and a tour of a bio-fuels facility in Newton. Grassley says one of the E.P.A. brass has admitted she’s never been on a working farm, and he says it’s high time that’s changed.
"We think the Fugitive Dust Rule, that you’ve gotta’ keep dust from the combine inside your property lines, (is) a very unreasonable rule," Grassley says. "People being misinformed about agriculture, writing regulations like that, if they can see first-hand (and learn) about agriculture, we think it might bring a little more common sense to regulation."
Grassley says the E.P.A. leaders need to see that Iowa’s producers of feed, food and fuel are creating safe, quality products in an environmentally-friendly manner.